In computer networks, packets transferred from one network node to the next may experience varying delays. Generally speaking, packets are typically sequenced and transmitted one at a time through the network path. When multiple packets are to be transmitted through a network, the subsequent negotiation and sequencing can lead to random amounts of transmission delays. For example, a packet may be forced to wait for another packet to complete transmission because the other packet began transmission before the waiting packet became available, or because the other packet has a higher priority designation. As a result, the delay in the arrival of the packet may deviate from the expected transmission delay. The deviation from the expected delay is commonly referred to as jitter. For many network configurations the jitter has a probability distribution function (pdf) which is not a normal distribution. Further, the jitter is a non-stationary stochastic process.
Jitter in the network is particularly undesirable for time sensitive packets such as timing packets, voice over Internet Protocol (IP), video streaming, or other packets of protocols with relatively strict timing requirements. Jitter may lead to significant performance degradation and decrease in the utilization of network bandwidth. Also, for packets which include timing and frequency information, the non-stationary nature of the network jitter makes the reliable propagation of such information difficult. Consequently, it would be desirable to have a way to reduce jitter for packets that are time sensitive. It would also be useful if the utilization of the network bandwidth can also be increased. Further, it would be useful if the network jitter could be made a stationary stochastic process.